God Wants To Meet Us In Our Sin and Shame
August 03, 2021 Filed in:
Comfort
God Wants To Meet Us In Our Sin and Shame
This is the last blog we will look at this question:
What emotion or emotions am I feeling when the temptation to look at pornography (or engage in any type of sexual sin) comes at me? REMINDER - remember, BLAST!
Bored
Lonely
Afraid
Angry
Stressed
Sad
Shame
Tired
Today let’s look at the issue of feeling SHAME and being TIRED.
SHAME -
What is shame? Guilt says I feel bad for doing wrong. Shame says I feel worthless because there is something wrong with me.
Where did shame come from? (Genesis 3) When Adam and Eve sinned their eyes were opened, and they realized they were naked. In Genesis 2:25 they were naked with no shame, but the moment they sinned, in their nakedness they felt shame.
What does shame cause us to do?
We all do this. We battle shame. We want to cover up or hide. We are afraid of God, or if we are not careful, we blame others for our problems. There is one thought however I find really neat. It is this:
God looks for us in the midst of our shame (Genesis 3:8-9). God still went walking in the cool of the day looking for Adam and Eve knowing they had sinned. God could turn His back on us in our shame, but instead, He meets us right in the middle of it. He demonstrated that most emphatically through Christ.
Don’t misunderstand me. There are consequences for sin. Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden. When we bow down to idols there are intense consequences. The important thing to remember is that in the midst of our idolatry and our consequences and our shame, God is with us. He wants to be with us in the midst of our consequences, and in Jesus, He covers our sin and shame.
So think about shame in the context of sexual sin. If this shame is not dealt with, then it leads more sexual sin.
Something else might trigger you to give into the sexual sin (boredom, loneliness, anger, etc.), but if you are not careful, then shame will just lead to more sin. In essence, shame keeps you stuck in the sin cycle. That is why it is so important to deal with your shame!!! Only Christ can do this!
Christ encounters a woman in John 8 who felt a ton of shame, but he did not condemn her. Even though He has the power to do so. What is the point?
Only Jesus can really condemn us (John 8:7). He will condemn those who do not know Him, but I love what He tells the woman in John 8. He tells her "neither do I condemn you". Then he encourages her to leave her life of sin.
Through trust in Him & His cross we are not condemned (John 8:11). Praise the Lord!!!! Romans 2 tells us forgiveness and kindness leads to repentance. This is the very thing Jesus does with this woman. She is forgiven and encouraged to live a life of repentance. This is the exact opposite of what shame does.
Like I said earlier, shame often comes from sin and even drives us to sin more. The cross motivates us & empowers us to leave our life of sin (John 8:11).
Could we like the woman be freed and empowered to leave our lives of sin and to follow Jesus with everything we have! Shame will not lead us to Him. Knowing that He meets us in the midst of our sin and shame will lead us to Him.
Thank you Jesus for the Truth of the Gospel that tells us we are not shamed or condemned (Romans 8)!
TIRED -
We all feel tired. It is a basic function of being alive. It falls under the same category of being thirsty or hungry. Those are also basic functions of being alive. When I am thirsty, I get something to drink. When I am hungry, I get something to eat. When I am tired, I need to go to bed and get some sleep.
There are many times that being tired can get us into trouble and lead us to sexual sin. Why is this the case? Many times we are tired, but we won't go to bed. We won't get the rest that we need. In a tired state, we can make very unwise decisions. Those can be very costly when those decisions become sinful and when that sin takes over and becomes idolatrous.
There is a solution. Brace yourself because this is going to sound very profound. The solution is "go to bed". What?!? That's it. Sometimes, it is just that simple. If I am prone to look at porn, then why am I surfing the internet between 12am-2am? Lamentations 3 tells me that God's mercies are new every morning.
If I am tired, then I can just go to bed. I will wake up in the morning, and I can experience God's mercies in a fresh way. At times, it really is that simple.
Some of us struggle with being able to go to sleep. If this is the case, what do you do? There are varying opinions on this. Some say take a sleep aid. Some say “NEVER” take a sleep aid. Here are my thoughts. If I can’t physically go to sleep, the best thing for me to do is to spend time in God’s Word, pray, lean on the Holy Spirit and seek outside counsel on how to deal with this issue. I think God will lead some to take a sleep aid. I think God will lead others to not take one. I don’t need a RULE, I need RELATIONSHIP! The idea is to take my stuff to Jesus, even my sleeplessness, and to not do it alone! I must involve others in my life.
There is no shame in wrestling with sleeplessness. Not being able to sleep at night can lead to loneliness. If this is you, go back and read the blog on loneliness.
There is another kind of tired. We might be feeling tired, but it is more than just being physically tired. At times we are tired because we are just physically, emotionally, and mentally drained. When this happens, I believe God wants us to be at rest in our soul.
How do we experience this? Matthew 11 tells me to bring my weary and burdened self to Jesus. When I do this, Jesus can give me rest. This is not just any kind of rest, Jesus says He can give us rest for our soul.
Does this just come from bringing our burdens to Him? No, it does not. Jesus clearly says in Matthew 11:28-30 there are a couple of things that must happen in order for me to experience soul rest. The first is that I must bring my weary and burdened self to Him! I must do this! I can't take my weary and burdened self to porn or other kinds of sexual sin. Porn will not give me soul rest. If I want soul rest, then I can only take my weary and burdened self to one place. That place is really a person, and His name is Jesus.
There is something else I must do to experience soul rest. I must yoke myself to Jesus. No, Jesus is not talking about egg yolks here. He is talking about the way two oxen would be yoked together when a field was going to be plowed. Those two oxen would be yoked together. In essence, they couldn't be separated, and one of those oxen would take more of the lead. That is how it must be between Jesus and myself. I must be yoked to Him. He must take the lead in all areas of my life, and I must be willing to learn from Him! When this happens, I am at rest in my soul.
To sum up, if I am tired, I may just need to go to bed so I can experience God's new mercies when I wake up the next morning. Doing this can help me to avoid porn or other aspects of sexual sin idolatry.
If I am not at rest in my soul, then I need to take my burdened self to Jesus. When I do this, I yoke myself to Him. I follow Him. I obey Him. When this happens, I find soul rest.
Ask yourself these things: What sin am I bowing down to today? Does porn have a deep hold on my heart? Something else? Would I be willing to repent today! Could I bring my weary self to Jesus? Would I have the courage to find that root issue in my heart? If Jesus can lead us to the root issue, He can empower us to bring that root issue to Him.
Will we let Jesus cover our shame with His righteousness? Will we find our soul rest in Him and only Him. Remember, He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is enough. He alone is worthy of our heart and worship!
